Recovering quickly and trying to mask her confusion she replied, "Of course, you're right. Pleasure shouldn't take the place of business."

Adam held her gaze steadily. "Pleasure should always take the place of business, Claire, but it shouldn't take the place of guarding your life."

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable about their whole exchange, Claire stood and went for the door. "I'll go tell Theo."

Adam stared at the open doorway, listening to Claire's exchange with Theo in the living room. It was true they needed to share information as soon as they got it, but this particular bit could have waited awhile longer.

It had made a convenient excuse.

The addition of her air magick had opened some kind of floodgate. He'd been attracted to her before, but once she'd peeled her magick from the elium, the sexual draw had exploded. He couldn't remember being this attracted to a woman since he'd been with Eliza.

All he'd wanted was to ease her pants down and off, explore and tease every luscious inch of her body until her cries had echoed loud enough to bring Theo running. It had been so, so hard to pull away. Especially since she'd been laying there beneath him, nipples hard, chest heaving, lips rouged and swollen from his kisses, and her eyes had been begging him to do it.

Giving in to the passion in that moment had just been wrong. It had seemed like… adultery. Adam bowed his head. Gods, how stupid! Yet, there it was, stupid or not.

Eliza had been in her grave for seven years now and she'd slap him silly if she knew he'd pulled away from a woman because of her. Fuck! He'd slept with lots of women after he'd grieved for Eliza and moved on! But none of those women had ever evoked anything like what he'd felt with his wife.

Until Claire.

And there was the problem. That's why it felt like adultery.

Adam rubbed his chin and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, trying to work out the why of that. It was probably the air magick. Once that eased up, he could keep the promise he'd made to Claire and help her make up for lost time.

Fuck Thomas and his opinions. Claire was an adult and could make her own decisions. If she wanted to take what Adam offered, so be it.

But it would have to wait until this strange, jarringly familiar intensity faded.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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"Adam."

Claire moaned and her eyelids fluttered open. One muscled arm was thrown over the side of the bed above her head. She couldn't see any more of Adam's body.

That was a good thing.

She closed her eyes again and slid her hand between her thighs, where the erotically charged dream she'd just woken from still made her warm and achy.

Never had she had a dream like that.